Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 12:16:55 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Becker and surprisingly good sitcoms

Started by Famous Mortimer, June 13, 2021, 08:31:22 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Famous Mortimer

I'm watching "Becker", because I never saw it when it was first on and I like a nice multi-camera sitcom. After an often patchy first three seasons, season 4 has been kinda brilliant. I don't know how much input into it he had, but Matthew Weiner (off of "Mad Men") wrote several episodes and was a producer, they've sorted the characters out, and the writing is really funny. Perhaps it's Stockholm syndrome from watching it too long. Who knows? But it's fun to see a character like Becker on the telly.

Anyway, from a "well, I've got half an hour before bed, might as well" to a looked-forward-to part of the evening, I feel like it's definitely improved. But then the thing that someone on here mentioned the last time it was brought up is looming - Terry Farrell leaves at the end of season 4, after she and Becker finally kiss, then he pretty much immediately moves into a relationship with Nancy Travis which drags the show down with relationship drama til the end of its run. But there's a weird thing - she's introduced with four episodes to go in season 4, and is a real Poochy kind of character. She suddenly gets involved in everyone's lives, is super-awesome and cool and smarter than everyone else and absolutely does not fit with the vibe of the depressed / stupid main gang. I've got no idea if they knew Farrell was leaving, but I can't see any other reason for them introducing a new character in episode 20 of season 4 of a show.

As this thread will definitely sink like a stone, if you've got any good recommendations for shows which suddenly got good, share em.

neveragain

Spin City with Michael J Fox and Richard Kind always seemed to occupy a neverland between forgettable and pretty good.

EOLAN

Keeping the focus on late 90s US sitcoms, Ned and Stacey I found to be great. Very wary not to lean too much towards sentimentality with the marriage of convenience and loved Nadia Dajani.

Also would agree with above two recommendations.

mippy

I like Becker a lot, mainly because I like the awful sleazy sad-sack character, kind of like a more loser version of Bulldog.

King of Queens I've quite enjoyed - mainly because Jerry Stiller injects a bit of absurdity into things.

Would be interested to see if anyone stands for Everybody Loves Raymond, mind.

mippy

Also, I used to watch Wings via US Netflix which I'm not sure actually got shown over here at all? It's oddly relaxing.

JaDanketies

Used to really enjoy Becker with my dad and then we gave up on it when Reggie left and the new woman entered. We both used to really fancy Reggie. Nice thing to bond with pops over. They really screwed the pooch on her departure, the most abrupt tone-change in any sitcom ever. They didn't jump the shark so much as trip over it. Apparently they sacked Reggie cos she was a total cool badass and The Man couldn't handle her shit.

QuoteFarrell rallied the other cast (not including Ted Danson) to fight for their agreed pay rise by not showing up for work. The powers that be agreed to honour their contract with the cast, but were so turned off by the way she handled things that they decided not to renew her contract after Season 4.

I don't mind Everybody Loves Raymond. For a US sitcom with a laugh track, it's better than average.

McChesney Duntz

Quote from: EOLAN on June 13, 2021, 10:18:55 PM
Keeping the focus on late 90s US sitcoms, Ned and Stacey I found to be great. Very wary not to lean too much towards sentimentality with the marriage of convenience and loved Nadia Dajani.

My man Charlie Kaufman wrote a few of those, which says something in the show's favor.

Psmith

Quote from: mippy on June 13, 2021, 10:21:26 PM
I like Becker a lot, mainly because I like the awful sleazy sad-sack character, kind of like a more loser version of Bulldog.

King of Queens I've quite enjoyed - mainly because Jerry Stiller injects a bit of absurdity into things.

Would be interested to see if anyone stands for Everybody Loves Raymond, mind.

Yes,the King of Queens has lots of interesting side characters (unlike Becker).
With Jerry Stiller being bonkers much like in Seinfeld.

RHX

Quote from: neveragain on June 13, 2021, 09:42:53 PM
Spin City with Michael J Fox and Richard Kind always seemed to occupy a neverland between forgettable and pretty good.

I second this, some great stuff there.

13 schoolyards

Ned and Stacy I very vaguely remember going absolutely nuts in its second season (which was never released on DVD). Supposedly everyone was sure they'd be axed at the end of s1 so when they came back they had no idea what to do - and were now absolutely certain they'd get axed - so they dialled everything up to 11. This was the late 90s though, so for all I know these days "absolutely nuts" would look like slightly more gurning and flailing about.

Just Shoot Me I always enjoyed as this kind of solid and reliable sitcom, especially when various Mr Show alumni would turn up.

phantom_power

Ted Lasso should have been shit but is brilliant

thr0b

Paramount Comedy Channel really used to have a decent amount of lesser-known US sitcoms. Some shite, some great. Shame with it turning into Comedy Central (and then becoming run by Channel 5), it's now just wall-to-wall Friends and Jurassic Park and the Karate Kid. It was showing Grimm a few months ago. On a comedy channel!

But anyway.

Becker - Good fun. Grumpy sitcoms always are.

King Of Queens - Jerry Stiller playing a slightly less insane version of Frank Costanza makes the show. Still good when he's not in it, but avoid the first season which is not close to being "there" yet.

Everybody Loves Raymond - An entire cast of unlikeable characters. Works sometimes, but astonishes me that it ran for so long.

Just Shoot Me - I recall this being amusing enough to not turn off, but not seek out.

NewsRadio - Should have been huge over here. In a Channel 4 on a Friday night kind of a way, anyway. But wasn't.

When I moved out of the UK 15 years ago Comedy Central was the only English speaking TV channel and I watched it with my 8 year old daughter, King Of Queens, Everbody Loves Raymond and The Nanny (mainly for Fran Drescher) were our favourites, Rules Of Engagement and Two Guys and A Girl were pretty decent too - I'm sure they all look dated now though, they did then.

mippy

I really, really liked Just Shoot Me. Although I get the fella in it mixed up with Andy Dick a lot. Andy Dick was in Less Than Perfect, which I rather enjoyed when it was repeated on ABC1 on Freeview in the mid-00s.

I was unemployed in the summer of 2004 and watched a LOT of Paramount back then - that was what got me into Seinfeld as I'd missed it on TV - and I really wished it still existed now. ABC1 was sort of similar but with more 'family' shows - Less Than Perfect, Hope and Faith, 8 Simple Rules.

NewsRadio is fabulous but if I were to rewatch (which is tricky as it's not available on DVD or streaming here AFAIK) I'd skip the final post-Hartmann season.

I've caught a bit of Raymond in the mornings on C4 of late, and it seems like every episode pretty much has the same plot. I realise in essence that's what sitcoms are - there are probably about three basic plots in Frasier - but I struggle to tell one episode from another.

The Culture Bunker

I was out in California on holiday when the last episode of Everybody Loves Raymond was broadcast, and it was a huge news event, one of the biggest entertainment stories of the year etc etc, which baffled me as at the time I had never heard of the show or Ray Romano.

I might have seen a few episodes here and there, but it never really clicked with me the same way the majority of American sitcoms don't.

Wezzo

Quote from: 13 schoolyards on June 14, 2021, 04:43:29 AM
Ned and Stacy I very vaguely remember going absolutely nuts in its second season (which was never released on DVD).

It did finally get released (in the US) three or four years back, Shout Factory released a complete series set. It does get kinda crazy.

neveragain

I love Raymond too. It is indeed better than average. It's also funny that the title isn't ironic, and most episodes are about everyone vying for Ray's time or attention.

Quote from: phantom_power on June 14, 2021, 06:39:53 AM
Ted Lasso should have been shit but is brilliant.
It was surprisingly good, but also fell exactly during lockdown one. Even then the overly sugary and sentimental bits felt weird for a UK show. I'll wait till series two to really make my mind up.

peanutbutter

Spin City was Bill Lawrence, right? Feels like his whole career is shows that are frustratingly almost good at points but never quite good.


NewsRadio is a weird one in that the format is such a dated 90s sitcom but it's by Paul Simms, who was a super senior member of the Larry Sanders team and has subsequently been a very successful producer (Flight of the Conchords, Atlanta, basically the guy who done everything in Girls that Judd Apatow was credited with) and has an exceptional cast. It's really good but honestly it should've been much better still.


I used to like That 70s Show more than I felt made sense, Kurtwood Smith being a lot of the reason why

The Culture Bunker

Not sure if it's "surprisingly" good because I'm not aware if it has any rep (or was even shown) over here, but whenever I've been in the States and caught an episode of Barney Miller, I've always enjoyed it. Great theme tune too.

phantom_power

Quote from: Largely Babble on June 14, 2021, 03:37:22 PM
It was surprisingly good, but also fell exactly during lockdown one. Even then the overly sugary and sentimental bits felt weird for a UK show. I'll wait till series two to really make my mind up.

It isn't a UK show.

Funnily enough it is co-created by Bill Lawrence of the aforementioned Spin City and another contender for this thread (though I am sure many will disagree), Scrubs

Quote from: phantom_power on June 14, 2021, 03:58:29 PM
It isn't a UK show.

Funnily enough it is co-created by Bill Lawrence of the aforementioned Spin City and another contender for this thread (though I am sure many will disagree), Scrubs
I should've guessed that. I think then it's the jarring of UK actors (mostly) and settings with that Hollywood sugar.
And, add me to the Spin City list - or at leat when I was a young one. Not seen it in years.

mippy

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on June 14, 2021, 03:43:25 PM
Not sure if it's "surprisingly" good because I'm not aware if it has any rep (or was even shown) over here, but whenever I've been in the States and caught an episode of Barney Miller, I've always enjoyed it. Great theme tune too.

Like WKRP In Cincinatti, I've heard it referred to as a classic alongside Taxi, but both are hard to find here. Can't remember if we got Murphy Brown either? I know it never got a DVD release because the music licensing would have been a headache.

willbo

I really like Everybody Loves Raymond, mainly for the brother character. He's had some really funny episodes and makes a good live action Homer Simpson type character at his best IMO. Raymond's mom is funny as well. She was in those "Mrs Miracle" (American Mary Poppins ish Christmas TV movies) which became a bit of a cult classic with my family.

Leej88

I found The Life and Times of Tim funny.

Famous Mortimer

Barney Miller is pretty much excellent all the way through (I've not seen it all, but I've definitely seen most of it). The episode where they come out of character and mourn the death of their co-star Jack Soo is a not a dry eye in the house moment.

The Becker / Poochy similarities just keep on coming. The penultimate episode of season 4 doesn't have Nancy Travis in it, but the rest of the cast spend the entire episode wondering where she is, what she's up to, etc.

amateur

I thought Caroline In The City was very enjoyable, particularly the title character's misanthropic assistant. Would love to give that another watch.

Big shout out for Paramount in the late nineties/early noughties, they had loads of good sitcoms including Becker and the rest listed above. The Mailbox pages on their teletext was probably the first ever "forum" I contributed to.

sutin

Quote from: peanutbutter on June 14, 2021, 03:39:49 PM
I used to like That 70s Show more than I felt made sense, Kurtwood Smith being a lot of the reason why

I loved it at the time. I was a teenager and liked smoking weed, I couldn't help it. I wonder if it holds up?

Gulftastic

I tried to watch 'Everybody Loves Raymond' but never got on with, even to the extent that I won't watch an episode of 'King Of Queens' if Ray Romano is guest starring.

And That 70's Show was great for a few seasons, maybe 2-5. Shame about the Danny Masterson rape stuff.

Famous Mortimer

Quality-wise, "Becker" falls off a cliff in season 5. After a few episodes where everyone is still hanging out in the now-closed restaurant (because Jake's paper shop is still in there) Chris takes over, and gets what I assume are scripts written and rejected for the Reggie era. Aside from Becker being in love with the main female cast member, the dynamic of the show hasn't changed at all, but the scripts have, and they've definitely taken the harsher edges off Becker's character. I'm kind of worried about season 6, where Jorge Garcia replaces Saverio Guerra (Bob), who is referenced in episode 1 of season 6 as being on vacation, then never mentioned again.

Still, it had a decent run of pretty good comedy, there in season 4.